About Me

Friday, January 15, 2016

THE MARK, "WHAT GOES AROUND", PAGE 3

I gave myself Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome in February 1987, while storyboarding on the "Spiral Zone" animated TV series for Atlantic Kirshner-Locke. My condition necessitating my going on Disability. I spent the next year searching for
a modality that could lead to a cure or amelioration of symptoms. I never
seriously considered surgery; I reasoned that I would simply re-injure myself
at a later date if I didn’t examine my basic method of working. An animation
peer recommended a chiropractic solution, so I investigated that. Eventually, I
settled on a more holistic approach. I could only work an 8-hour day with short
breaks every 20 minutes to stretch or exercise. I had to make my time count,
knowing that I wouldn’t be able to make it up on the back end; I’d have to put
in the pencil mileage whether I liked what I was producing or not, just do it.
I found, to my surprise, that most of my work was useable. In fact, my best
work lay ahead of me: I had breakthroughs in creativity and drawing chops on
the ALF and Alf Tails animated series (1987), and again on the Batman animated
series (1991-92). I found that, not only could I draw what was in my head, but
that it would be better than what was in my head; ideas would come to me as I
drew.

This is page #3 from Dark
Horse Comics #15, “The Mark: What Goes Around”, written by Mike Barr, drawn by
Brad Rader, published in December, 1993.